Sorry...

I will update and show my different decor  designs using your ideas tomorrow. I came down with a cold and am going to bed!!!!

Love and Lysol Hugs!

Heather 

Okay... Time to come up with a plan, Stan!

      So, we have gotten some great ideas. I am working on my classroom today, and I need to get an early start.  So, I GUESS you can weigh in until tonight. Then, I will put together some options, and the voting polls will open!!! So, stay tuned!  Please look back over the last few posts to see others' great ideas and offer some of your own! Lots of great Fall ideas!  "Oh, Steve! I need you to lug up the Fall decorations container!!!!" Aww, he is going to be SO grateful to ya'll!

     Until tonight! Have a wonderful day!!!

Blessings and Love,

The Marm

Okay, so, well, hmmmm...

We are half-way there! 

Our goal is to thin out and create a Buttery or Butt'ry.  Some decorating tips were given at the beginning which I think are a good reminder- groupings of 3, 5, or 7.  Keep your greatest focus at eye-level.  Well, these shelves are at eye-level, so we need to draw the eye here.  Here are some suggestions and ideas so far:

• Add a central pumpkin and some Ball jars
• Make the penny rug more visible
• Add some bittersweet

Okay, what else can we come up with?

A few reminders...

• The top shelf post is closed, so no more bonus points for that.  
• This post and the post "Coffee Talk- Talk Amongst Yourselves..." are still available for bonus points.  Whether you post on this one or that one, it equals one bonus point.  
• You can give lots of suggestions, but you only get one bonus point per post.  
• This "chatting and brainstorming" post will end TONIGHT at MIDNIGHT.  I will then put your ideas into some choices, and you will get a chance to vote.  

Everyone did a fabulous job on the top of the hutch!  I love it!!!  I just need to get some small rice lights for the top (Thank you for the idea, Dianntha!)!

So, you are entering this giveaway and earning bonus points, so what's being given away.  Hmmmm... Hints... Pie... Pin Keep... Pumpkin... and other little treasures!  I will give you a peep at it on Saturday!

So, that concludes this little reminder... Now back to your regularly scheduled activities, all ready in progress! Me?  I have to make curtains for my classroom... ;)

 

Well, gee!  I don't know, do you?

Love and Hugs!

The Marm

Ravenwood Whimzies Fall Pinkeep Swap... Let the Ooooh's and Ahhhh's begin!

 

 There are just those days... 

You know what I am talking about... The kind you could eat a whole mess of pumpkin dream cookies with cream cheese icing. I didn't.  I am just saying I COULD.  It was rainy.  Humid.  Stressful.  Day.  But God says that He will supply our needs.  He didn't say life would always be easy, but He would supply our needs.  I needed some cheer.  And God's timing with His dewdrops of mercy are just right.  Wendy was my partner for her Fall Pin Keep Swap, and she timed sending out her package just perfectly.  Because, it arrived yesterday.  It was MUCH better than pumpkin cookies!

 What a sweetie!

 Perfect for the day, eh?

This candle smells WONDERFUL!

And, now, the big reveal... Are these not awesome!

 Look at the detail and love she puts into her creations!

 

 I will cherish these.  They are staying up all year.  I think they would look perfect next to some old children's text books... Teacher shoes!!!

Wendy makes such beautiful things.  It is such a joy to have her handiwork throughout my home...

 Lizzie Bennett, my bunny...

 Winston, my raven...

 My cow, Homer.  This was the first thing I purchased from Wendy when I started blogging!

     Oh...Yup.  Ate the 3 "Fun" sized bags.  They said "Fun".  They needed to be eaten.  I ate the peanut ones.  I shared the others with Steve.  There were 6.  I left Steve 3.  You can do the math to see how much fun I had...  Heee heee...

Thank you SOOOOOOOO much, Wendy, for your thoughtfulness, hard work, and in organizing and hosting this swap!!!  You are a blessing to me!

You can follow her blog here, and her wonderful collection of goodies on etsy here.

Blessings and hugs!

Heather

Coffee Talk- Talk Amongst Yourselves...

“Is any pleasure on earth as great as a circle of Christian friends by a good fire?”

 “The next best thing to being wise oneself is to live in a circle of those who are.” 

---C. S. Lewis

So, Zone 4 is a lock! Yea!

     Now, Zone 3 & 2- The Shelves!  I will be adding fall stuff soon.  I have to drag the plastic container in which it slumbers, upstairs.  Okay, well Steve drags it up...  Today, still working on the classroom!  My goal is to be put away (that doesn't sound good, but may be true by Friday) by Friday, and then, do bulletin boards and fun stuff Monday or Tuesday!

     Since I will be at my classroom all day, you can feel free to rummage through my things.  If you are new to the giveaway, you can find the procedures here.  I added some pictures from other places in my home to this post.  You can feel free to ask me to move something from one spot to another...

     I know I keep saying this, but I am having so much fun with you all!  Your friendships and participation make me imagine sitting around my dining room table (okay, not there.  That is where all the junk is) having coffee and just chatting and laughing and moving stuff around.  You know there are many bad things that can come from the Internet, and some say that this form of communication is impersonal, but it has brought such joy to me.  Yes, letter writing is a lost art, but gee, could you imagine how long this process of decorating my hutch would take if we were writing letters and sending pictures through the mail?  I guess with every innovation, there are blessings and curses.  It is our job to be good stewards of this technology so it doesn't become the latter...

So, um, enough of that, on with the fun!!!

The Shelves:

Shopping:

     Besides what is in the post here,and here, these are some shelves in the kitchen and stuff that you could use  to create the buttery look (Hee hee- sounds like something you do with bread...).

      So feel free to stay as long as you like.  If you see another area that looks like it needs thinning while your here, feel free to make suggestions.  Like I have said over and over (teachers love repeating themselves).  I am learning a lot.  Sometimes it takes an outside opinion to get you to really look at stuff.  And to remind me of the blessings of treasures, although earthly, temporal ones, they help to make our home, well, homey.  And, that I don't need to go to a thrift store. EVER!  Well, except with you, Granny! :)

     This is just a discussion posting, like before. Once we get some ideas, I will take pictures and number them.  Then, you all will have two days to vote before we lock in the shelves...

Have a wonderful day, dear friends!  I will be thinking of you and praying for you!

Love,

Heather

“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art… It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.”

--- C.S. Lewis

Well, the top is finalized...

Original Guidelines- CLICK HERE!

     I loved all of your ideas! I appreciate the time you took to participate. Although I may not have used your exact idea for the top, I have learned much and am using the ideas throughout the house.

     So, (unless voters bum rush the post in the next hour) it looks like idea #10, the last, late entry is the keeper. My mom liked it as well.  Her vote counts too... :)

     Some of you suggested some Fall items or the doll as an addition (I believe the award for most posts about gourds and pumpkins and Fall DOES go to Granny...). I don't have my tub o' Autumn decor up yet, so I will add more later. Here is an idea of some of your Fall ideas   I love awesome Autumn additions (See what I did there?  Alliteration... Fancy...)!

The Marm won't be up there. She is just showing you the top "Vanna White" style. 

PHOTOBOMB

     All of you that helped and commented- gold stars all around. At midnight, no more gold stars for the top, BUT, we move on to the (insert dramatic music of your choice)... Shelves!  Ooooh! Ahhhhhh!

     Well, obviously, this post is late. Why? Well, working on my classroom. Still. Here are some updates... (Really.  It is better...)

FAVORITE SPOT!

 

Good night, dear friends... More makeover madness mañana! I did it again!  I am on fire with this alliteration thing.  Okay. Well.  Really, that is all I've got!

Off to bed!

Love and Hugs!

Heather

 

Oooooh, it's a gettin' good!

      Oooh!  This is getting good!  Feel free to ask for additions of any of the items from the shopping list!  I can change it around and add new ideas tomorrow! So far, we have 10 different looks!  But, I can make 11 or 12 or...

     BUT, tomorrow's the last day for making any changes and voting on the top of the hutch. Thank you all for making this fun for me!  Seriously, I am learning so much about design and how less is more- I am even applying what you are all teaching me all over my house!  I will do a Fall Tour later.  Steve will be happy when this is over.  You should see the dining room table with all of the stuff! 

     Sorry the pictures got way worse in quality by the end of the list.  The sun went down, and it was hard to hold the light out of the way AND take a picture! I was almost literally swinging from the chandelier.  Well, I wouldn't be swinging for long.  Doing a face plant on a table full of pottery and baskets... Not pretty.  Yikes.  I will try to retake some for tomorrow!

     Tomorrow, I will be working on school clutter.  Yea.  Seriously, it is exciting having a new classroom!  I haven't had one for 9 years.  At first, like I said, I was sad.  But now, seeing the possibilities and SPACE!  Wooohoo!  And the trash cans loaded with junk.  Ahhhhh.  Feels good! Moving rooms was something I dreaded and feared and dug my heels in about.  I couldn't think how the change would be good.  I journalled about it at the beginning of the summer in my devotional journal.  I was worried and angry.  A lot of fuss about something when God knew best.  Now, when I see the pieces fall together, I see how His plan was the right one.  Dumb me thinking otherwise...  I was holding on so tight to what I thought was how it should be, I lost out on the peace from opening my hand to let God take it and lead me to what HE WANTED.  Ugh.

Sal Photobomb, Granny...

     So, again, vote on the other post for your favorite look, or feel free to ask me to change out something with an item on the shopping list- a basket, a spool, sunflowers... Whatever!  I won't be home from school until around 6pm, so be sure to post and then check back at night (if you feel like it).  Don't comment on this post (unless you just want to say, "Hey!").  This is just a babbling post on my part...

Well, all righty then.  I will see myself out.  Wait.  I live here. Hmmm.  Awkward...

'Night!

Heather

Help the Marm Giveaway! Top to Bottom- Decorating Zone #4

For rules, please refer to this post.

Okay, so I thought we'd work on the top specifically.  Here is what I learned from your advice:

• LESS STUFF! Large objects for the top.
• Crocks, baskets, and some seasonal decor.
• Work in groups of 3,5, or 7 (that is what my mom said too).
• Crocks (in a group of three) in the middle with baskets or gourds to the side.
• Two large baskets to one side and one large one to the other.
• Different heights and thicknesses of objects.
• Lots of crocks in a grouping.

Here is the "Shopping List".  I tried to include some things you mentioned:

Crocks...

Baskets..

.

 

 

 Other Things to Give Height or Interest...

     So! Now what?  Here are my attempts to put your ideas into action... I apologize, well, you see which ones you think I should apologize for! I do apologize for the quality of the pictures.  I was trying to hold the hanging light out of the way while taking the picture with my iPod... Smooth...

Idea 1:

 

 Idea 2:

 Idea 3:

 Idea 4:

 Idea 5:

 Idea 6:

 Idea 7:

 Idea 8:

 Idea 9:

Idea 10: (Late entry- great help from a very sweet Ohio Farmgirl!)

Idea.... ???

 This post will close at Midnight (PST) on Tuesday. So give ideas, adds, subtracts, replaces, "yea's" or "nay's", and then I will finalize the top and close this post.  So make your thoughts known by then to get your extra credit.  If you are new, please let me know that you want to be entered.  If you want extra credit, feel free to comment.  Refer back to the first post here for the horrifyingly long list of rules and hoops for you to jump through because that is the mean-spirited teacher I am!  Muuuhhhaahaaahaaaa!

AND, as always, thank you for visiting and helping me!  This means a lot!  Truly!

Check on Wednesday for the next post in this saga:  the finalized top and the challenge for the next zone!

Blessings and hugs!

The Crazy Schoolmarm